Dress protective potential of naturally green-colored domestic silk against ultraviolet-induced skin cell damage

Abstract

Naturally green-colored domestic silk demonstrates remarkable antioxidant activity due to the presence of intrinsic antioxidant and pigmented substance flavonoids. Oxidative damage is one of the main causes of sun-induced skin damage. To investigate the potential protective effect of naturally green-colored domestic silk on skin cells against ultraviolet damage, the antioxidant was extracted and analyzed. An in vitro experiment which involves introducing ultraviolet damage to the human keratinocyte HaCaT cell line was used for the research. By adding the extract into HaCaT culture medium and then subjecting to ultraviolet irradiation, the data evidently showed that the cell apoptosis and growth inhibition of HaCaT were alleviated, indicating the protective effect of the extract to the HaCaT cell against ultraviolet damage. Meanwhile, a large number of the surviving damaged cells stagnated in the diploid (2n) phase, which is the main phase of gene repair during the whole cell cycle. The survival and repair of damaged cells also produced fewer gene fragments caused by ultraviolet damage. The detected reduction of reactive oxygen species and malondialdehyde induced by ultraviolet irradiation in HaCaT confirmed that the antioxidant extract from green silk cocoons does have intracellular and extracellular antioxidant effects. These findings suggest that naturally green silk has the potential to be utilized as a functional textile material for skin sunscreen products, and its extract can be further developed as a source of antioxidants in medical and safety health applications.